


Years Go Falling

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: RH Plus
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 11:32:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why <em>does</em> Haruka hang around all the time?</p><p>Thanks to Mendax for betaing. Any remaining mistakes are mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Years Go Falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [annakas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annakas/gifts).



"I don't understand," Masakazu said, drunkenly flailing his arm in Haruka's direction. "Why are you here all the time? You're so--" Another unfocused flail.

Haruka grinned in spite of himself as he maneuvered Masakazu through the door; there were lots of ways to finish that sentence. "Cool? Smart? Funny?" 

Masakazu rolled his eyes, throwing himself off balance. Haruka caught his arm. 

"You're normal," he said to Haruka. "You just come around here like, like--" He shook his head. "Ageha's parents didn't want him. Makoto's mother was afraid of him, and. And." He stopped and shook his head, wavering again. 

Haruka held him up. The sake stench from his breath was almost unbearable.

"But you're here all the time. And you say you're all alone. But--"

"I was raised by my mother," Haruka said, walking Masakazu carefully into his room. "She died eighteen years ago."

"You're not that old," Masakazu objected. His steps were getting even more erratic; Haruka guessed he probably wouldn't last more than another ten minutes. "You can't be that old. Ageha would know. Kiyoi would say something. You're not like--"

"I was hurt. My mom and I were on vacation in Okinawa, and I was hunting. This American GI told me he wanted to show me a cave with an old half-buried shell from the war. He said it was a dud." He put Masakazu's arm over his shoulders and did his best to maneuver him toward the futon. "It wasn't a dud."

Masakazu's eyes went wide. "No way. Did it hurt?"

Haruka could still remember the pain from the explosion, searing across his chest and arms. Half of his face had been embedded further back in the cave. "Yeah," he said, grateful that Masakazu would forget all this by morning.

"How long did it take for you to get better?"

"It was a long time," he said. "I didn't really get any older. I just spent a lot of time healing." It had been about five years before his hearing came back. At least the cave hadn't been that far from people, and once he had ears again, their vampiric power had kicked back in. He kept up with the news that way, and music. Music changed a lot, while he was healing. "I found out later that Mom had come back to look for me every year. But by the time I got out, she was … older."

Masakazu shook his head and slumped against him, passed out at last. Haruka breathed a sigh of relief and dumped him on his futon. He was always so _heavy._ He walked out of the room and down the hallway, keeping his steps quiet; Ageha and Makoto were no doubt asleep by now. Who knew if Kiyoi even slept; Mom had never said anything about that kind of stuff.

"I don't think I knew your mother," Kiyoi said to him, as he put his hand on the doorknob.

"No," Haruka said, without turning around. "Probably not. She was human. I don't remember my father."

"Would you like some tea?" Kiyoi asked. "It's the least I can offer."

Haruka didn't want to find out what would happen if he refused that offer. "Of course," he said. "Thank you."

The tea was delicious. It usually was. Kiyoi made small talk most of the time they drank it. "I'm sorry," he said, eventually, when Haruka was halfway through the second little cake Kiyoi had served on a paper doily. "I didn't mean to overhear your conversation."

Haruka had his doubts about that, but he appreciated the apology. "It's all right," he said. "I wasn't sure anyone was still awake. If I was too loud--"

Kiyoi shook his head. "I have … well, I confess, I was eavesdropping, Konoe-kun. You arrived in our lives quite suddenly and at something of a time of transition." Kiyoi lifted his teacup to his mouth and took a careful sip. "I apologize. You have been a good friend to Masakazu-kun. I am not sure if you are aware, but there have, in the past, been disputes over territory among our kind, and if--"

"No," Haruka said. "I understand. My father … had been involved in one, before he died. My mother said that things were … uncertain after the war. She tried to protect me from it. By the time I was healthy again, there didn't seem to be many of us around, and so I didn't learn much etiquette."

Kiyoi's eyebrows moved, just a hair. "So you're that old?"

Haruka shrugged. "Depends on how you measure it, I guess."

Kiyoi nodded. "I'm sure you miss your mother."

"Yeah," he said. There had been too many memories in Okinawa after she'd died; Tokyo was easier, but he still missed her at the New Year and when the old seasons faded and the new ones began. She loved the fall leaves and the spring blossoms, and the feeling of change in the air.

He normally didn't get this maudlin. Maybe he'd had too much to drink, too.

Kiyoi filled his teacup for him. "You are always welcome here, Konoe-kun."

"Thank you," he said, softly.

"I do have one consideration," he said. "I hope you are not planning to take advantage of Masakazu-kun's inebriation on a regular basis. He does have his studies."

"I keep trying to get him to drink less," Haruka said, leaning back and trying his best to look innocent. "But then he takes it as a challenge, and--"

Kiyoi chuckled, though Haruka still felt the steel below the amusement. "He can be stubborn. Still."

Haruka nodded. "I understand." It wasn't really his fault that Masakazu was hilarious when he was drunk. But Kiyoi was right. He usually was; charming, effortless and powerful. He was the only person Haruka knew who could pull off cool and politely interested as well as Haruka could. He must've been murder at goukons back in the day. And he probably never got drunk and started waving his arms around, or talking too much about the past. 

Maybe Haruka would get smoother with age. It was a goal to aim at, anyway. Masakazu certainly wouldn't, so one of them had to try. Not that they were-- well. Who knew what they were, or what they'd be. 

"Konoe-kun," Kiyoi said, like a whisper through fog. "Perhaps you should stay here tonight. We have a spare room."

Haruka blinked and tried to focus, with little luck. "Yeah," he said. "I'm more tired than I realized."

Kiyoi led him to the spare room, which had a clean futon and lavender-scented sheets. He helped Haruka into bed and patted his shoulder gently. "Good night, Konoe-kun."

"Thank you," he said, closing his eyes.

"And remember," Kiyoi said, turning the light off as he left, "no more midnight confessions. You and Masakazu-kun have studying to do."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta, and to annakas for inspiring the story by suggesting Haruka might be older than he looks. The title comes from Al Stewart.


End file.
